Monday, February 23, 2015

Peter Laird vs. Dave Sim, preserved in amber

So recently a bunch of coincidences lined up in my favor.

A while ago, I was reading the letters page of TMNT (Vol. 4) #9 before writing my review. There, I noticed Laird's first mention of "The Paradox of Chudnovsky", the story that was meant to replace TMNT (Vol. 1) #8 in Mirage continuity.

Then yesterday, I was browsing some scans of Dave Sim's Cerebus comic that someone posted on an image board. I just happened to notice a photo of Eastman and Laird in one of the letters page thumbnails and when I read it, low and behold, it was Sim's open letter to Laird re; the publishing rights to TMNT #8. Neat!

And just now, while I was reading through the letters page of TMNT (Vol. 4) #16 before writing my review, guess what? Laird's response to Sim's open letter!

It's a bit funny in hindsight; Laird swears on a stack of Bibles that TMNT #8 will be stricken from the record and "The Paradox of Chudnovski" is the new canon. And looking down from the year 2015, we know that he actually wound up reprinting TMNT #8 and shelving his substitute story.

5 comments:

2k3 version:"Episode 44/"April's Artifact": Of course I love the idea of mixing in dinosaurs and time travel! It would also be cool to introduce Renet from the TMNT comics, and, in fact, we have in the works right now a "reimagining" of TMNT Vol.1 #8 which is going to tell the story of how the Turtles first met Renet and the sorcerer Savanti Romero, but in a different way (and without Cerebus). It might actually be a story which could be adapted to an episode without much trouble".

His involvement in the alternate #8:(responding to a Andrew Modeen question)"As I recall, I consulted with Murph on that story, though I don't think I contributed all that much. I have very little memory of it. I actually prefer the original #8, and since I was able to come to a meeting of the minds with Dave Sim about it, I would say that THAT is the "canon" version".